Charles Woodson is staring at the reality of NFL 2013. So is Brian Urlacher. Veteran players in their mid-30s—even productive NFL players in their mid-30s—have to wait their turn in the free-agent signing carousel.

After the Packers decided not to re-sign him, Woodson made one free-agent trip—to San Francisco—but nothing materialized. So here is the highly decorated Woodson in April still without a job.

"I'm 36, so of course I'm considered ancient in the game right now, and teams are looking for younger players and trying to make their rosters younger," Woodson told the NFL Network. "If you're an older guy, they kind of push you to the side, and they'll maybe look at you much later on down the road, when I guess they figure they can get you much cheaper."

Considering Nnamdi Asomugha, 31, received no guaranteed money from the 49ers in a one-year, heavy-incentives contract he signed a few days ago, Woodson is looking at a similar type of deal—if he can find an interested team.

Players in their mid-30s represent a health (Woodson missed nine games last season with a broken collarbone) and productivity gamble teams don’t want to take—at least not for any significant investment.

And, generally speaking, they don’t want aging players around as backups. Either they make the team as a starter or they don’t make the team.

"Nothing right now, nothing substantial--I'm just waiting around,” Woodson said about the interest level in him. “We put feelers out, just to see where everybody's at, but there's not much right now."

Woodson, a safety only at this point in his career, will probably sign with a team before training camp, but he’ll have no guarantee beyond that. At the first sign of injury trouble, he’ll be in jeopardy of being jettisoned.